Featured in Kindle Books

Amazon Editors

More on The Amazon Book Review

Originally launched in 2007 as Omnivoracious (“Hungry for the next good book”), The Amazon Book Review has served as the place for the Amazon Books editors to talk about our passions for fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, kids’ books, mysteries, romance, and science fiction. Here you’ll find interviews with your favorite authors, Best Books of the Month announcements, reviews, and occasional essays on books, reading, and quirky trends. Visit us often for new stories, or have the latest ABR articles delivered to your in-box via our daily digest email.

Machine of Death Anthology: Amazon #1 Ranking, But Does It Live Up to the Hype?

"Existentialism was never so fun. Makes me wish I could die, too!" - Cory Doctorow

Perhaps Machine of Death editors Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki should have subtitled their self-published anthology "The Resurrection" or "Not Dead Yet!" Pursuing an aggressive guerilla PR and marketing campaign, they recently managed, through strength of fan/reader support, to shoot to the top of Amazon's book ranking system. Along the way, they dislodged heavy hitters like John Grisham and Glenn Beck, creating a maelstrom of discussion, chaos, and discussion in places like the Atlantic Wire.

Now that the dust has settled, what about the anthology itself? The premise is simple: it's a collection of speculative stories about a machine that can tell you the cause of your eventual death, but not the time or place. The book also contains copious illustrations/comics.

Personally, I found Machine of Death a lively, self-assured, and diverse read. The stories aren't as similar as you might think from the premise, the editors have done a good job of breaking up the text with the art, and the whole enterprise has an air of subversion and energy that supports the outrageously cool way in which they managed to get the book world's attention. This is DIY publishing at its best, and a perfect example of the way in which creative, clever editors can use to their advantage the new leveling of hierarchies, existence of more accessible means of distribution, and diversity of ways to make a project visible to readers.

But, when it comes down to it, you have to have the quality to back up the hype. You have to bring the heat, and Machine of Death does bring the heat. Not only that--it showcases a lot of talented writers you might not have encountered before. I know I have a few more "check out their other work" names after reading the anthology.

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this blog until approved.

Name:

Email Address:

Comments:

Comments (6)

Amazon has just published my first novel for young adults called, The Seventh Wish. It's a coming-of-age story about priorities, common sense and compassion.
Synopsis: Julian captures a magical horseshoe. He is assigned by the Leprechaun Council the responsibility of granting a selfish wish to six strangers. The last wish, the seventh wish, must be his selfish wish. Not only must he choose who receives the wishes, he must also keep the golden horseshoe away from the evil trolls. Julian and his leprechaun companion, Lawrence, travel from coast to coast to fulfill the ancient legacy of the wishes and learn the many powers of the golden horseshoe.

Posted by: Toby O'Day | Sunday November 21, 2010 at 6:47 PM

The Seventh Wish is available in Amazon's Kindle Store!

Posted by: Toby O'Day | Sunday November 21, 2010 at 6:48 PM

Jeff: It's nice to see that a book can rise out of the slush pile without Clarion-esque pay-to-play schemes.